Due to the wrath of Hurricane Ivan on September 16, 2004, nearly a quarter mile of the two-lane double span I-10 concrete bridge spanning Escambia Bay was torn apart. The destruction halted the bridge's nearly 42,000 daily vehicles and forced truck traffic to take an inconvenient detour north of I-10. A $33.7 million design-build, joint venture reconstruction effort reopened the westbound span to two-way traffic in just 17 days - seven days ahead of schedule. Exceeding expectations, the project team reopened the eastbound span 26 days ahead of the original 90-day completion schedule.

The 2.5-mile-long span suffered extensive damage. Forty-six eastbound concrete sections were knocked out or misplaced by the 10-foot-high storm surge and approximately 28 westbound sections were damaged or misaligned. To get traffic moving again, crews repaired the less-damaged westbound span using eastbound sections. Crews either used barge-mounted cranes to lift the 235-ton sections into position, or employed barges with hydraulic jack trailers to lift up sections and then float them into place. The majority of eastbound reconstruction comprised more than 3,400 lineal feet of temporary steel bridge sections.